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Greetings,
The month of November brings with it the Thanksgiving holiday and invites us to reflect upon how much the Clarke community has to be grateful for — our students, our dedicated employees, our beautiful campus, our alums, our supporters in Dubuque and beyond.
Campus News
This week we joined many colleges and universities across the country as we gratefully celebrated our First-Generation Students through a series of events that acknowledged the hard work and perseverance it takes to be the first in one’s family to attend college. In addition, we created this fun video of first-gen faculty and staff describing first-gen students. Nearly 1 in 4 students at Clarke is a first-generation student, and we are honored to be a part of their journeys!
We are also grateful for these six students who were recently named recipients of our Compass Awards.
- Christopher Brodrick
- Halle Boldt
- Drew Fox
- Kennedi LeDuff
- McKenzie Nodolf
- Isabella Peterson
Thanks to the generous support of Jenifer Westphal ’84, these six students will each receive a $5,000 scholarship, and they will create a plan of action for change as it relates to a social justice initiative in the Dubuque area.
Continuing with our theme of gratitude, we would not be the institution we are today without our exceptional faculty and staff. We appreciate all that they do inside and outside of the classrooms and the offices. For example, on November 7, the Arts at Clarke committee, which is composed of faculty and staff members, hosted a performance of “Squatters on Red Earth” – a powerful play about Anglo-European encounters with the Native Peoples of Iowa and the social and ecological impacts those encounters had and continue to have. Just a couple of days later, Assistant Professor of Art Troy Aiken hosted Pottery Palooza, where students and employees were able to let their artistic sides shine as they painted ceramic pieces they could take home. Troy and his students generously prepared over 70 pieces for this event.
Feelings of gratitude were prevalent among the many campus visitors Clarke hosted for Family Weekend and our special Career Highlight Visit event. Looking ahead, we are also thankful for the upcoming guest lecture from beloved Clarke alumna and faculty emerita Joan Lingen, BVM ’61.If you are looking for inspirational leadership, be sure to tune into the livestream of what is sure to be a fantastic event!
Strategic Plan Update
Today, Clarke welcomed reviewers from the Higher Learning Commission to campus. One piece of the Plan that I shared when I joined the Clarke community in January was to prepare for this scheduled site visit. Many faculty and staff participated in the writing of the report (Assurance Argument) that we submitted to the HLC last month, and we are incredibly grateful for the hundreds of hours that were devoted to this process. The self-study that took place as a result of writing that report reaped many benefits and fed into our 2023-2026 Strategic Plan, and we look forward to the HLC reviewers’ responses to the report and to their visit to campus.
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